Washington Post Buys #Election Hashtag

In a first for Twitter and the media industry, the Washington Post is purchasing the hashtag #election tomorrow. It will appear in the right sidebar on Twitter.com. The buy means that Washington Post stories will appear above other tweets when users click on the hashtag.

The journalism outfit The Poynter Institute has the full story:

The Post's sponsorship of the term #Election means that it will appear at the top of the list of Trending Topics on Tuesday.

When users click on that topic, one of the Post's tweets will appear above other tweets with the #Election hashtag -- giving the Post prime real estate to promote its coverage and updates.

By being the only news organization using Twitter this way, the Post could rise above the din of election-related conversation and draw more traffic to its website.
This is the first time a news org has used one of Twitter's "promoted products," according to Chloe Sladden, Twitter's director of media partnerships.

"Because the Promoted Trend is on the homepage of Twitter, the Post has
the potential to lead the story cycle about the election on Twitter by
maintaining a consistent presence," Sladden said in a written statement
via e-mail.